Special Event: NATPE

VIZ Media LLC has an array of animated properties it plans to showcase at the 2008 National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) Conference and Exhibition, taking place Jan. 28-31, in Las Vegas. VIZ Media will operate from Suites 7904 and 7906 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, where the conference will be held.

Bender Media Services, the newly created distribution company specializing in television sales to Latin America, will introduce its diverse slate of animated, entertainment, lifestyle and documentary programs to Latin American broadcasters at NATPE 2008, it was announced today by Susan Bender, President/CEO of Bender Media Services.

Banff World Television Festival 2008Banff, Alberta, CanadaJune 8-11, 2008Deadline: Feb. 14, 2008

The four-day Banff World Television Festival combines a prestigious international program competition, the Banff World Television Awards, with a comprehensive conference agenda. Within this festival, production deals are secured and advanced, new business relationships are formed and future trends in the industry are identified and examined.

It has arrived -- the latest Acrobat edition of Animation World Magazine. This issue covers the business of animation. John Cawley lays out the rules of the funny game of animation budgeting. Chara Campanella talks to Josh Selig, Stephanie Graziano and Tom Tataranowicz about what it takes to make the leap from a solo entity to studio owner. Campanella also talks with independent animation producers about how they found funding so that you can turn your big idea into a reality.

DIC Ent. has finalized new international broadcast and home entertainment distribution deals for the new series HORSELAND.

HIT Ent. offers a slate of new program offerings at NATPE 2007. Representatives for HIT's award-winning catalog may be reached at Booth #1540 throughout the show.

BOB THE BUILDER is a key part of preschool children's lives, as he hammers out solutions to new problems in more than 200 countries worldwide. In BOB THE BUILDER -- PROJECT: BUILD IT, the #1 pre-school television series in the U.S., Bob and his team move to Sunflower Valley to build an echo-friendly town from the ground up.

GD Multimedia, a recently launched global distribution company, will attend NATPE 2007 for the first time with a brand new animated comedic adventure series, GOING WILD, available to U.S. and international broadcasters.

BKN Int'l AG reports that its wholly owned Spanish subsidiary BKN New Media SL is bringing three animated TV series to NATPE 2007. The company will have such 39x24 animated series as LEGEND OF THE DRAGON, DORK HUNTERS FROM OUTER SPACE and ZORRO -- GENERATION Z.

Scheduled sessions, an additional partnership and the appointment of an advisory board for the third annual NATPE Mobile++ summit presented by InfoSpace, Inc. were announced by Rick Feldman, president/ceo of the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE). The day-long event, produced and organized by Achilles Media, kicks off NATPE's annual Conference & Exhibition being held Jan. 15-18, 2007, at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas.